Happy Hump Day everyone!! I know many of you are headed back to school (if not already there). I hope you have had an incredibly amazing start to the school year!!
I have had so many amazing opportunities to meet some really amazing people through these social media platforms. One of the best things I've done so far is to find my #teachertribe. I am a proud member of the #kindertribe and am so excited to have found a group of people who are more concerned with building each other up than tearing each other down. I'm so grateful for this group!! A Facebook page was just a start for this tribe, we soon branched out into a collaborative blog.
The blog is mostly run and taken care of by the administrators, who will create different posts for the blog. There are two days a week other kindergarten teachers can link up to the blog. On Wednesdays we get to link up for 'What Went Well Wednesdays' and share something that went well during our week. I'm not back to school just yet, but I would love to share something that worked well for me last year!
I really like how I handled student supplies last year. I purchased a carton of these zipper pencil pouches from The Dollar Tree (in our district, teachers/schools are responsible for providing student supplies). I numbered each of the kiddos on my class list and then used a Sharpie to write the number of each student on the pouches.
Inside the pouches are all the supplies my kinders need during the day.
I purchased these really awesome 'soap containers' from The Dollar Tree. They came two to a pack and the lids are able to lock on. Not only that, but they perfectly hold an entire box of 24 crayons. How sweet is that?? I also numbered their crayon boxes.
In each pouch there was also a sharpened pencil, pair of scissors, and a glue stick. (I use glue sticks and glue sponges) These three tools are like the Holy Trinity in kindergarten, aren't they??
Also in the pouch is a dry erase marker and a piece of square felt to use as an eraser. We do A LOT of work with whiteboards in our classroom and we go through A LOT of dry erase markers during the year!! We have to spend many days in the beginning of the year practicing the proper way to use these markers, including not banging them on the boards to make dots and not using them for drawing or coloring on paper, as well as not to use them for drawing and coloring when we're using them to learn!
This is how I handled classroom supplies last year, and it really seemed to work well. The pouches from The Dollar Tree are super cheap-o and don't hold up well to kindergarteners, so I'm glad that I bought the whole carton so I can swap them out throughout the year. This year I am going to make stick-on labels for the crayon boxes, and I might change the way I label the pouches. I think this year I'm going to write the names of my kinders instead of a number. Honestly y'all, it was hard for all of us to remember who had which number! Being OCD, I definitely had a list, but it got to be a pain having to constantly check it. I think names are going to be much easier.
How do you handle classroom supplies? I'd LOVE to hear from you in the comments!!
If you head back over to the Kinder Tribe blog you can see lots of other amazing tips and tricks from teachers this week!
You can still link up for Spotlight Saturday! It's a Teacher's Show and Tell to share our favorite products, resources, activities, ideas, tips, tricks, and anything and everything else that could make our classroom lives easier!!
Were you able to salvage any of the pouches to use again this year? My K team is thinking about purchasing the 3 spot caddys from Dollar Tree for student supplies to (hopefully) use for multiple school years, but this might be another way to go. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteCarlee Van Ness
The Kindergarten Press
Carlee,
DeleteI was able to salvage some of the crayon boxes, though many of my kinders had 'accidentally' found a way to crack the lids. They did last the entire year, though. I have tried the 3 spot caddys from Dollar Tree too, and they held up well. I had to use Duct Tape to cover the openings because the pencils kept falling out, but that was okay because I got to use lots of fun Duct Tape!!
I'm going to be purchasing a brand new class set of each, the pouches and boxes, for this year. Any that I have left over will be used throughout the year to use as replacements.
I hope you're able to find something that works really well for you guys!! :-)
I was thinking about trying out numbers this year, but now I'm kinda rethinking it! My kids generally are not able to recognize numbers until at least a month in, so I'm thinking that this might be way too much frustration for ME to handle!
ReplyDeleteI'm really loving the idea of the zippered supply pouches! Where do you store them in your room?
Thanks so much for sharing! You always have great ideas to share!
Deirdre
Mrs. Garcia's Super Scholars!
Deirdre you're so sweet!! :-) In my school, each classroom has a set of student lockers inside the room. My kinders keep their pouches inside their lockers. I also use book bins as their mailboxes and some of my kinders liked to store their pouches in their mailboxes.
DeleteI am in total agreement about the numbers! I thought it was a good idea, that way I could re-use the pouches each year since they were labeled with numbers. But, so many of my kinders don't know their numbers and I could remember which name went with which number!! I'm hoping using names with them will be less stressful!! :-)
Thank you so much for reading my post and leaving such incredibly sweet feedback, so glad that I can call you friend!!! :-)
I like the idea of having each child's supplies in one pencil bag. We've used community supplies in the past and I always have a few who take really good care of everything and a few who…um…don't. Maybe having their own bag that they are responsible for will help motivate them to take better care of their stuff.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya!! I used community supplies for my first few years in kindergarten and had the same issue, as well as kiddos fighting over who got to use what pencil (they're all the same!!!!). Individual pouches have seemed to help alleviate those problems! It does help motivate them to be more responsible with their tools, too!
DeleteThank you so much for reading my post and leaving such great feedback, I really appreciate it my friend!!!